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| 1 | +FCF Revised Rules |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +This document consolidates the current operating rules of the Friends Cooperative Fund (FCF), superseding the earlier V1 and V2 rules. |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +1. Member Classification |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +The earlier distinction between Refundable and Non-Refundable members is discontinued. All members will be treated equally with respect to monthly contributions, benefits, loan eligibility, social support, and exit-related decisions. |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +2. Monthly Contributions |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +Each member shall make monthly contributions to FCF. |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +The monthly contribution is ₹750 per member. |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +Members are encouraged to enable auto-payment or standing instructions to avoid missed contributions. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +The monthly contribution amount shall be reviewed annually and may be revised based on inflation, fund requirements, and members’ financial circumstances. |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +3. Contribution Discipline and Pending Contributions |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +All members are expected to make contributions regularly and on time. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +Members with missed or pending contributions shall regularize the pending amount within 6 months. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +The Treasurer or Committee shall identify members with pending contributions and communicate the required regularization amount and timeline. |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +Repeated delay or irregular contribution may be reviewed by the Committee and discussed with the concerned member. |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +4. Fixed Corpus Fund |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +FCF shall maintain a fixed corpus fund target of ₹5,00,000. |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +The corpus target may be increased annually by 20% or adjusted based on inflation, fund growth, and member approval. |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +Members shall continue contributing until the corpus target and future revised targets are achieved. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +The corpus fund shall be used carefully to ensure long-term sustainability of FCF. |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +5. Loan Eligibility |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +Loans may be provided to members based on fund availability, repayment capacity, loan purpose, and Committee/member approval. |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +The maximum loan eligibility per member is capped at ₹2,00,000. |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +Loan approval shall depend on available financial reserves at the time of request. |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +Priority shall be given in the following order: |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +1. Medical emergency loans |
| 50 | +2. Other urgent financial necessities |
| 51 | +3. Personal loans, subject to conditions and fund availability |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +6. Medical Emergency Loans |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +Medical emergency loans shall continue to be available even if the principal fund has not reached the fixed corpus target. |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +Medical emergency cases may be treated separately with flexible conditions. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +Immediate health assistance shall primarily apply to immediate family members, including parents, spouse, and children. |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +Requests involving siblings, in-laws, or other family members may be considered under the Social Fund or as an exception, based on member agreement. |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +7. Personal Loans |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +Personal loans should be treated as a last option after the member has explored other reasonable alternatives. |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | +Personal loans may be provided only when sufficient funds are available after protecting the medical emergency reserve and corpus requirements. |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +Until the principal fund reaches the fixed corpus target, personal loans may be restricted or avoided, except in special cases approved by the Committee/members. |
| 70 | + |
| 71 | +Personal loans for repetitive personal reasons may be subject to stricter review, shorter repayment timelines, or rejection. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +Personal loans may be approved with specific conditions, including repayment within a shorter period such as 6 months, where applicable. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +8. Loan Repayment Model |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +All loans going forward shall be operated on an EMI-based repayment model. |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +Members taking loans shall repay through monthly EMI payments, with each EMI covering principal plus interest at the fixed rate of 8% per annum (Section 10). |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +The borrower may be allowed to choose the repayment tenure, subject to the maximum tenure approved by FCF. |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +Existing long-pending loans shall be reviewed, and borrowers may be requested to start or complete repayment if the loan has crossed a reasonable threshold. |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +9. Loan Tenure |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +The standard maximum loan tenure shall be 24 months. |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +Any exception to this tenure, such as 18 months or 30 months, shall be approved separately based on the loan type, borrower situation, and fund condition. |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +For personal loans, shorter repayment periods may be preferred. |
| 92 | + |
| 93 | +For medical emergency loans, flexible repayment conditions may be considered. |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +10. Loan Interest Rate / Repayment Rate |
| 96 | + |
| 97 | +The loan interest rate is fixed at 8% per annum for all loans. |
| 98 | + |
| 99 | +This is the standard rate applied to every loan going forward, calculated on the loan within the EMI repayment model (Section 8). |
| 100 | + |
| 101 | +Repetitive personal loans may attract stricter repayment conditions (shorter tenure, additional review), subject to Committee/member approval, but the interest rate remains 8% per annum. |
| 102 | + |
| 103 | +11. EMI Calculation |
| 104 | + |
| 105 | +EMIs are calculated on the loan principal at the fixed interest rate of 8% per annum (Section 10) over the chosen repayment tenure, subject to the maximum tenure in Section 9. |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +The exact monthly EMI for a given loan depends on its principal and tenure and shall be confirmed at the time of disbursement using the standard 8% per annum rate. |
| 108 | + |
| 109 | +12. Loan Disbursement Priority |
| 110 | + |
| 111 | +Loan requests shall be prioritized as follows: |
| 112 | + |
| 113 | +1. Medical emergencies |
| 114 | +2. Critical financial necessities |
| 115 | +3. Personal needs, subject to corpus availability and approval |
| 116 | + |
| 117 | +Loan approval shall also consider existing outstanding loans, pending contributions, member discipline, and overall fund position. |
| 118 | + |
| 119 | +13. Social Help Budget |
| 120 | + |
| 121 | +Social help shall operate on a monthly budget basis. |
| 122 | + |
| 123 | +The monthly social help budget is 20% of the contributions collected in that month. Any unused amount is carried forward to the following month. |
| 124 | + |
| 125 | +Requests for social help should be flagged early so that members and the Committee have enough time to review and respond. |
| 126 | + |
| 127 | +Social help usage shall be reviewed periodically based on actual historical spending and fund availability. |
| 128 | + |
| 129 | +14. Donations |
| 130 | + |
| 131 | +Donations received or donation-related decisions shall be handled transparently. |
| 132 | + |
| 133 | +Where applicable, donations may be added to the common fund, distributed equally among members, or used for social causes, based on member approval. |
| 134 | + |
| 135 | +A clear donation policy shall be finalized by the Committee and approved by members. |
| 136 | + |
| 137 | +15. Member Exit Policy |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | +A member willing to exit FCF shall formally express their decision to the Committee in writing. The exit settlement shall then be computed using the following steps. |
| 140 | + |
| 141 | +Step 1 — Settle outstanding obligations first. |
| 142 | + |
| 143 | +Before any refund is calculated, the exiting member shall clear all open obligations to FCF: |
| 144 | + |
| 145 | +* Any outstanding loan principal (and accrued interest) must be repaid or netted in full. A member cannot exit while holding an open loan against the fund. |
| 146 | +* Any pending or missed contributions must be regularized. |
| 147 | + |
| 148 | +The exit refund is computed only after these obligations are settled. |
| 149 | + |
| 150 | +Step 2 — Determine the member’s total eligible contributions. |
| 151 | + |
| 152 | +The eligible amount is the sum of all monthly contributions made by the member during their membership. |
| 153 | + |
| 154 | +Step 3 — Deduct the member’s equal share of shared costs. |
| 155 | + |
| 156 | +The total bad debts and the total donations paid out by FCF to date are treated as shared costs of the fund. These are divided equally across all members on a per-capita basis (1/N, where N is the total number of members), and the exiting member’s single equal share is deducted from their eligible contributions: |
| 157 | + |
| 158 | +``` |
| 159 | +share of shared costs = (total bad debts + total donations) ÷ total number of members |
| 160 | +residual amount = total eligible contributions − share of shared costs |
| 161 | +``` |
| 162 | + |
| 163 | +Step 4 — Member decides what to do with the residual. |
| 164 | + |
| 165 | +Once the residual amount is determined, the exiting member may choose to either: |
| 166 | + |
| 167 | +1. Offer the residual amount to FCF as a donation to the common fund, or |
| 168 | +2. Withdraw the residual amount. |
| 169 | + |
| 170 | +The chosen settlement, the figures used (eligible contributions, total bad debts, total donations, per-capita share, and residual), and the member’s decision shall be documented clearly and approved by the Committee/members. |
| 171 | + |
| 172 | +16. Contribution Refunds |
| 173 | + |
| 174 | +Contribution refunds — whether on individual member exit (Section 15) or at closure of FCF — follow the same settlement basis: eligible contributions, less the member’s equal per-capita share of bad debts and donations, with all outstanding loans and pending contributions settled first. |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | +The member may choose to withdraw the residual amount or donate it to FCF / charity. The refund or donation process shall be documented clearly. |
| 177 | + |
| 178 | +17. Bad Debts and Donations as Shared Costs |
| 179 | + |
| 180 | +Bad debts (unrecovered loans, written-off amounts) and donations paid out are treated as shared costs of the fund and borne equally by all members on a per-capita basis. |
| 181 | + |
| 182 | +At the time of member exit or FCF closure, each member’s equal share of these shared costs shall be deducted from their refundable amount, as set out in Section 15. |
| 183 | + |
| 184 | +18. Account Management and Withdrawals |
| 185 | + |
| 186 | +FCF shall move towards joint account management wherever feasible. |
| 187 | + |
| 188 | +Financial bookkeeping responsibilities may be rotated among trusted members to improve transparency and shared responsibility. |
| 189 | + |
| 190 | +Quarterly financial statements shall be shared with all members. |
| 191 | + |
| 192 | +Any withdrawal above ₹50,000 shall require approval from at least two authorized signatories. |
| 193 | + |
| 194 | +Bank account credentials, access, and authorization rights shall be handled securely and responsibly. |
| 195 | + |
| 196 | +19. Financial Reporting |
| 197 | + |
| 198 | +The Treasurer or assigned Committee member shall share financial statements with all members on a quarterly basis. |
| 199 | + |
| 200 | +The statement shall include: |
| 201 | + |
| 202 | +* Opening balance |
| 203 | +* Monthly contributions received |
| 204 | +* Pending contributions |
| 205 | +* Loans disbursed |
| 206 | +* Loan repayments received |
| 207 | +* Interest received |
| 208 | +* Social help or donations paid |
| 209 | +* Expenses incurred |
| 210 | +* Closing balance |
| 211 | +* Outstanding loans |
| 212 | + |
| 213 | +20. Periodic Review Meetings |
| 214 | + |
| 215 | +FCF shall conduct quarterly or half-yearly catch-ups to review fund status, loan performance, pending contributions, social help, donations, and rule improvements. |
| 216 | + |
| 217 | +Rules may be amended based on member feedback, fund condition, and majority approval. |
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